Authors Notes

Hello and Merry Christmas! Big thank you to everyone who has Followed, Favourited and Reviewed as always, it means a lot to know you like the story!

Reviews

Griffin Blackwood - Thanks for the review! Always enjoy reading your thoughts on the latest chapter!

Guest - There are reasons for Harry's choices. As you suggested, this Harry is not choosing Divination because it is an "easy O", he is choosing it because despite its bad reputation Divination is a real branch of magic that I will explore more in this story. Trelawney might be a fraud, but Divination is not all hokum.

Maelstrom15 - Thank you! Yes this Sirius Black is not just an Animagus/one trick pony, this is the Heir of House Black and a dangerous wizard in his own right. He fought a war and although he might be rusty, he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Chapter 23

The first of September arrived in no time and for once, Harry didn't have to sneak away before dawn to avoid bumping into Vernon and potentially triggering one of his fits of rage. Vernon had been home for a grand total of eleven nights throughout the summer and most of those had been flying visits, Petunia explained that he had been 'promoted' to a regional position and his new job involved travelling to each factory Grunnings owned in Britain and spending several days checking they were running properly before he moved on to the next. Vernon was pleased with the change because it came with a pay increase and a new title, Dudley was pleased because he got presents whenever Vernon came home, and Harry was pleased because the less time he spent around Vernon the better.

So while he did wake up early on September 1st, he was in no rush as he sat in the kitchen with his aunt and they shared a pot of sweet tea and some toasted teacakes. He had received a letter a week earlier from Professor Flitwick informing him that someone would be coming by the house that morning to escort him to Platform 9 ¾, so he had no early morning taxi to catch this year.

He was just finishing his second teacake and wiping the buttery crumbs on his napkin when two heavy knocks sounded from the front door. He hurriedly brushed the last crumbs from his fingers and made his way to the door, he was reasonably sure that it would be the 'escort' that Flitwick had mentioned but he still drew his wand in his off-hand and hid it behind the door as he swung it open slightly.

"I like your thinkin' Potter, but next time keep your wand in your strong hand." Alastor Moody commented with a grin as he stood leaning against his staff on the doorstep. "At least until you can use that stave of yours properly."

"Hello Alastor!" Harry greeted cheerfully as he opened the door fully and invited the older Auror inside and tucked his wand back in the new holster he had bought in Diagon Alley, he had outgrown his old one. "I'll remember that, thanks."

"Hmph well at least you don't keep your wand in your pockets. Best way to lose a cheek that." Alastor grunted as he limped into the hallway, his enchanted eye whirling in every direction all the while.

"Oh hello … you must be Alastor, yes?" Petunia asked nervously from the kitchen doorway, Harry had talked about the Auror in many letters and his description was fairly unique; an enchanted eye, scars criss-crossed his face, a false leg and an engraved staff topped with a carved Griffon's head.

"Aye, Alastor Moody at your service." Moody's face contorted into a slightly sinister shape, Harry had been shocked by it the first time but quickly realised that the man couldn't control it, the scars around his mouth pulled and twisted his genuine smiles into a twisted thing. Thankfully his aunt didn't seem too offput and returned the smile, along with an offer of tea. "Ah I'm fine but thank you."

"How are we getting to Kings Cross then Alastor? Are we apparating? Or taking the Knight Bus?" Harry asked eagerly as he pulled on his jacket and grabbed his cane from its place leaning against the wall.

"Neither." Alastor reached into his overcoat pocket and pulled out a tin can without a lid, he placed it on the kitchen table and then dug around in his pocket again. "You ever heard of a Portkey, Potter?"

"I think they're mentioned in a few of the advanced Charms books I've read." Harry nodded as he leaned closer to the tin can and focused his attention on the dimly coloured weave of yellow magic that swirled through the metal.

"Aye I suppose they would be. Well you can ask your professors for a proper explanation on them, all you need to know for now is that they're illegal to make if you aren't part of the Magical Transportation Department at the Ministry. This one was made yesterday and will take whoever is touching it to Kings Cross at half past ten." Alastor pulled his hand from his pocket and dropped a blue knitted sock onto the table next to the tin can. "This was enchanted by someone from outside the Magical Transportation Department. You'll be taking the sock, I'll be taking the can."

"I thought it was illegal for someone to make a Portkey if they're not in the Transportation Department?" Harry asked even as he recognised the distinctive violet magic woven between the woollen threads, specks of black and white dancing along the edge of the sock to a silent melody. "Oh. Well if the sock is … better? Shouldn't we just both use that one?"

"Perhaps, but the Ministry can track Portkeys and if they saw one triggered here or if the can triggered somewhere else then they might send someone to investigate. Albus' Portkey probably won't flag up on the map but even if it does, it should be hidden by the Ministry approved Portkey activating at the same time. So I will take the can, you will take the sock." Alastor pulled a pocket watch out and glanced at the time before he tucked it away again. "Ah right best say your goodbye's Harry, they'll trigger in about a minute."

"Oh goodbye Aunt Petunia! I'll write to you once I'm at school!" Harry gave his aunt a tight hug and she kissed him on the cheek and adjusted his new glasses so they sat straight on his face, they were a present for his birthday as his old ones had begun to dig into his ears.

"Be safe dear and I'll expect a letter tonight!" Petunia pushed the handle of his trunk into his hand and he awkwardly fumbled with his cane until he could hold both in one hand, leaving his left hand free to grab the sock.

"Right now don't let go of the sock, don't try to hold your breath, and remember to bend your knees." Alastor advised as he picked up the tin can and lifted his cane into the air slightly. "Three."

Harry noticed the enchantments on the Portkey's began to shiver and move, expanding and glowing as they twisted.

"Two."

The magic in the sock expanded into a bubble of lines and runes that surrounded Harry, tendrils of violet light drifted down to sink into his stomach, just below his navel. He could feel something happening but as he tried to see the magic it suddenly brightened until it was almost blinding to his sight.

"One"

The tendrils that had sunk into his chest suddenly grew taught and he felt a tugging at his navel as the sphere of violet magic around him swirled and twisted. It felt very different to apparition, he wasn't being squeezed through space this time. Instead, it felt more like he was being dragged, gently, through space as the magic of the Portkey pulled him across England. He couldn't see beyond the bubble of magic but he did notice as it began to slow, strands of the magic separating and peeling off from the sphere.

He didn't know what caused it, but some instinct told him that the magic was almost finished and he bent his knees to soften the landing, but it wasn't necessary. Whether it was because the creator of his Portkey was more talented or just luck, he didn't know but his arrival had all the impact of a feather. As if he had simply taken a single step, he arrived on Platform 9 ¾.

He must have looked a bit odd, stood on the platform with a knitted sock in one hand and his trunk and cane in the other but he didn't care. He was nearly back at Hogwarts and he couldn't wait to return to the magical castle. He was so distracted by the sight of the giant enchanted train waiting for him that he almost missed the arrival of the second Portkey. A twisting circle of dim yellow magic appeared on the Platform a little ways off to his left, it expanded and split to form a sphere that wobbled slightly in the air a few feet off the ground. It took almost ten seconds for the sphere to fully form and then collapse, and as it broke apart it revealed Alastor Moody. And promptly dropped him two feet to the ground.

To his credit, the Auror landed surprisingly gently considering his false leg and staff. As soon as he landed the man dropped the can and as it clattered to the floor he drew his wand, his enchanted eye performed a full circuit as he inspected the platform around him. Finding nothing suspicious, he stepped across to Harry and gave him a once over with his natural eye.

"How was it? You didn't throw up which is always a good sign."

"Er yeah, it was fine thanks. Smoother landing than yours I think which might have helped." Harry shrugged as the Auror plucked the sock from his hand and stowed it in his jacket.

"Aye well that makes sense, I've had worse but any of the half-decent Ministry enchanters get snapped up by us or the … well anyway. Let's get you on the train and squared away."

The platform was not busy as the train wouldn't be leaving for a good half an hour, but it was still amusing to witness the reactions of various witches and wizards as they saw and recognised Alastor's grim profile stalking across the tiled floor to the second carriage. Most of them turned away and did their best to ignore him, a rare few nodded in greeting, one wizard actually turned and ran away when he saw Moody approaching which caused the Auror to chuckle darkly.

"Right, I happen to know that your Defence professor will be taking the Express into Hogwarts as well and he'll be in the next carriage." Alastor explained as he opened the door to one of the compartments and gestured for Harry to step inside. "That and the enchantments on the train should keep you safe, and there are Aurors posted at Hogsmeade to escort everyone to the castle. But that isn't license to be foolish, don't go anywhere alone and keep your wand on you at all times, yes?"

"I will, I promise. I'm not going to go looking for a crazy dark wizard Alastor."

"Good lad." The grizzled Auror backed out of the compartment and eyed the cane in Harry's hand with a small grin. "Albus showed me your little light trick from the Chamber, if you can get through this year with decent grades, I'll see about showing you how to use that stave of yours properly."

Harry couldn't contain his smile at the thought of learning to use his stave, he had yet to see Alastor wield his to perform magic but he knew that it required immense focus and concentration to channel magic effectively through one. He gripped the warm wood and brushed his fingers across the intricate carvings that covered the length of it, pins and needles prickled his fingertips as he traced a carved vine and the runes engraved along it.

Ever since he had somehow conjured the jagged tree of light in the Chamber, the stave had felt different in his hands. Warmer to the touch, it seemed to hum silently when he held it now, giving off the sensation of a contented animal slumbering after exerting itself. It wasn't dissimilar to how his wand sometimes reacted to his touch, the burst of warmth was very similar, but his wand had a different sensation. Less a hum and more of a wordless melody, a silent song he could almost hear. It filled him with a sense of boundless energy sometimes, other times it helped him to quiet his mind and brought about a sense of peace he struggled to find normally.

"Do you want some time alone to fondle your stick mate?"

Unfortunately, no song could compete with Terry's smug chuckling as he lifted his trunk and stored it above the seats.

"You've been spending too much time around Neville, and he's been spending too much time around Seamus." Harry remarked as he leaned back in his seat and smiled at his fellow Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, I sometimes miss the shy little Gryffindor he used to be." Terry leaned up against the window and peered out at the, now much busier, platform. "Speak of the devil, I think I can see him there. Yep, that's him, his gran is wearing that awful hat again."

"You mean the stuffed bird thing she was wearing in the Alley?"

"Yeah that's the one. Oh speaking of Diagon, did you hear about what happened the day after we went shopping?" Terry asked excitedly as he fell back onto the seat opposite Harry.

"No?"

"There was a raid in Knockturn that night, someone reported seeing Black down there so a whole squad of Aurors swarmed the place, but they couldn't find a trace of him. They were there all night and most of the next day, old Caractacus Burke ended up complaining to the Ministry and they eventually left but still."

"So either it was a false alarm, or Black really was there and he managed to escape completely undetected when a dozen highly trained Aurors were searching for him." Terry nodded at Harry's description.

"I mean I've heard some of the newer Aurors aren't all that good, but the Auror Captain's are all from the Blood War with You-Know-Who, they're the real deal and at least two of them were there apparently." Terry added but it did little to alleviate Harry's concerns. If Black could escape Azkaban and then a whole group of Auror's, what was to stop him attacking when they got off the train? His cane trembled in his grip, but he couldn't tell if it was from his hand shaking or the magic of the stave responding to his emotions.

"Hey guys, sorry Gran started talking to Mr Greengrass about something and I couldn't get away." Neville greeted as he stumbled through the doorway, pulling his trunk behind him. "Did you hear about the raid on the Alley?"

"Terry was just telling me about it, someone reported seeing Black but the Aurors couldn't find him?" Harry summarised as Neville took a seat and shook his head nervously.

"No, it's worse than that. The Minister tried to hide it but apparently one of the Auror's spotted Black in Knockturn and Black attacked him and stole his wand. Poor bloke is still in St Mungo's, just keeps talking about dark spirits and necromancy and all sorts." Neville shook his head sadly as he finished his hushed retelling.

"Eep!" Terry squeaked and jumped as the train suddenly jolted into movement and both Harry and Neville fell into laughing fits at his reaction, the dour mood lifted as Terry flushed and settled back into his seat grumpily.

The conversation turned quickly to their new classes as the train made its way out of London, travelling north on its journey into Scotland.

"I'm telling you, Divination is for old ladies and swindling idiots out of their gold. You can't predict the future with any real accuracy unless you use Arithmancy!" Terry insisted as they repeated their argument for the third time.

"There are proven instances of Prophecies and Seers being right mate, I won't deny that Arithmancy works as well but what if you don't have time to calculate all the variables? And even if you do, what if there are things you haven't factored into the equation? In a classroom environment Arithmancy might be more accurate, but in the real world you don't always have time to sit down and fill in a bunch of equations." Harry argued, admittedly he was regurgitating what he had heard from Percival Dearborn and Castamir, but he had read enough on the subject to agree with them on this.

Arithmancy was the science of using numbers to predict the future, but in order to get a reasonably accurate result you needed to have as much information as possible. It was based on a similar theory as muggle probability calculations and was undeniably effective, so long as you had time to research as much information as possible to do with what you wanted to predict. Everything from wind speed, temperature, the size of the area or object or person you wanted to predict the future of, time and date and even colour could all be used.

"Arithmancy is used by Curse Breakers and Spellsmith's all the time, I thought you wanted to be a Curse Breaker Harry? They don't look into crystal balls or read palms to work out how to break into tombs!"

"There are Divination spells as well mate, it's not all tea leaves and Tarot cards." Harry pointed out as rain began to hammer at the window, the previously bright and clear sky was now grey and cloaked in threatening clouds as thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Wait, really? There are spells to predict the future?" Terry asked as he slumped in his seat, some of the fight leaving him at the revelation.

"Not specifically to predict the future, but there are scrying spells you can use to try and find the answer to a question. They use them for trying to locate people and missing objects, but apparently they do sometimes show hints at the future." Harry explained as he stood and reached up to open his trunk.

"Really? Then why do you need a crystal ball for Divination class?" Neville also looked confused at hearing that there were actual spells involved in Divination.

"Well …." Harry grunted as he closed his trunk and sat back down with his copy of 'Unfogging the Future' in his hands. "Technically any reflective surface will do for most basic Divination, the druids used pools of water and some people use mirrors, it just needs to be a real reflection. You can't use a conjuration or a spell to make it."

He flicked through the pages until he found the chapter on scrying he was looking for, running his fingers across the page until he found the section he remembered.

"Yeah so it says here that the reflection is a symbol for your soul or your magic seeking answers, it's the reflection that does the scrying and then you see or hear or feel whatever it finds. If it finds anything. You have to have the right state of mind or something, I'm not sure but it's still interesting."

"I still say Arithmancy is more reliable. You don't have to have inner peace or whatever to do Arithmancy." Terry grumbled. Neville looked like he was going to say something but as he opened his mouth the train juddered and rattled as they came to a screeching halt. The rain redoubled its efforts to break through the window as the train sat still on the tracks.

"What was that? We can't be at the castle yet, we're a good hour away still surely." Terry asked as the door slid open to reveal Susan, Hannah and little Luna huddled in the doorway.

"Do you mind if we join you? Ernie and Justin are being annoying." Susan asked as Luna skipped into the compartment and hopped on the bench beside Neville.

"Sure, hold on." Harry picked his book up and tucked it in between him and the window so the two Hufflepuff's could sit next in the remaining space on his side of the compartment.

"Thanks Harry, so what do you think is happening? Do you think we've broken down?" Hannah poked her head out of the door to look down the carriage as she asked.

"The engine is powered by enchanted fire, it's not failed or needed repairing since the 1850's." Luna chirped from her seat beside Neville as she stared at the ceiling in fascination. Her attention drew Harry's interest and he noticed that the enchantments that lined the carriage were buzzing and moving faster than he had ever seen before. Symbols and threads were burning so brightly against the panelling that he was surprised they didn't ignite the wood.

The carriage suddenly jostled and jerked again, as if the tracks were shaking beneath them and one of the others let out a small shriek as shouts and screams echoed along the train. It took Harry a moment to realise that the lights must have gone out as Hannah moved carefully back to her seat, lightning flashed outside and thunder sounded above them as the sounds from along the train quietened again.

"Should we try to send an owl to Hogwarts or something?" Terry asked as Harry turned his attention back to the enchantments on the ceiling. The previously buzzing magic had quietened and almost completely stilled, as if the energy that sustained them had been used up or sapped away leaving them to drift listlessly across the wood.

More screams sounded from somewhere down the train, shrieks of terror as a cold wind rushed into the compartment. Frost crept up the window and fogged the glass of the door as some of the shrieks subsided to exhausted whimpers.

"Colloportus. Duro. Arderos Fax." Harry sketched a hexagon and a triangle in the air and pushed the magic into the door as Castamir had taught him, laying his magic over the glass and letting it sink into the wood as the enchantment took hold. The door slid closed with a heavy thud as it became many times denser and stronger, the first two spells were purely defensive and would hold up against most spells or even the strength of a Troll reasonably well.

"Good thinking, that should…" Neville's words died in his mouth as ice spread across the door, the temperature dropped to below freezing in seconds as the magic Harry had infused the door with struggled against the cold. The green runes swam lethargically through the wood as his magic fought valiantly to resist whatever was causing it but, as an ominous shadow fell across the frosted glass, the emerald spell stilled and turned a limp and lifeless grey as it splintered and dissipated.

The door cracked and collapsed into icy chunks to reveal the intruder floating in its place. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, but the similarities to a person ended there. This thing was horrifying. The arms and lower limbs of the creature were a sickening patchwork of bleeding reds, unending blacks and lifeless greys all stitched together. The colours clashed and fought each other in a way Harry had never seen before, pushing and pulling in desperate attempts to free themselves from their forced positions. Harry had never seen magic in pain before, but he knew at a deep and fundamental level that he was seeing just that. Whatever magic had gone into this creature wanted to escape, to be free of the core of this being. And what a core it was. Where the limbs and edges of the torso were a hodgepodge of screaming magic, the upper torso and head were just void. There was no colour, no real shape or form that he could see. Just an absence where the chest and head should have been. A blurred distorted outline of a bald head and skeletal shoulders gave it a vague shape, but the sight of it sickened Harry.

The compartment and its inhabitants froze. Ice claimed the floor and frosted eyelashes as the thing floated inside, observing them sightlessly and silently as it turned its nauseating not-head in each of their directions. It turned to each of them once and looked almost about to turn away when it suddenly surged closer and loomed over Harry's seat. He couldn't see what the others could but he could hear a wet rattling breath as it's not-head drew closer to him.

He couldn't move.

Couldn't breathe.

Couldn't think.

There was only cold and as his awareness flickered and shrank, contracting until only he and the monstrosity were within it, he felt an abject terror seize him. Even after facing the Basilisk in the Chamber, or Voldemort in his first year, his greatest fear had always been the darkness. The nothingness that lingered at the edges of his sight at all times, threatening to reclaim him and drag him back into the dark he had lived in before his Fulgomancy. He had heard other blind people could still see some things, specks of light or faint shadows. Not so for him. For him it was just empty darkness, unending and unrelenting. But even as a child, he had noticed things. Movement. He had hoped it to be his eyes at first, some remnant of his normal sight at work. But as the years passed and he noticed them more, he knew that wasn't the case.

There was a primal fear of the dark embedded in humans for a reason. Harry's ancestors had cultivated fire and magic for a reason beyond lighting the way at night. Fell things hunt in the dark places of the world. Even in the places no one can see. Especially in the places no one can see. No one else at least.

This thing that had invaded the train. This thing sapping his warmth. Stealing his breath. Stilling his heart. This was kin to those shapes he had almost seen in the dark. It was fear.

His awareness flickered as his heart stuttered in his chest and dwindled until it barely encompassed his body before he was once again consumed by darkness.

Except he wasn't. In front of him, leaning over him in the empty nothingness of his vision was the thing. He could see it now. Not with his Fulgomancy, his sight had failed him, but he could see this thing nonetheless. Cloaked in black rags, an emaciated and rotten corpse-like figure with skeletal fingers and, under its deep hood, a head with no eyes or nose. Just a gaping maw that begged to devour him.

He had never been so certain he was going to die before and the feminine scream that echoed around him only solidified it for him.

"Paxanama"

A rush of warmth flowed down his body as Harry awoke. He almost wished he hadn't when his body screamed at him painfully for trying to act.

"Ah there we go, take it easy Mr Potter. Dementors are truly awful creatures and their effects can be equally horrid. Here chew this. Slowly." He felt something smooth and warm pushed into his cold hands and gripped it slowly as he tried to overcome the stiffness that lingered in his limbs.

"Thank you Professor, if you hadn't been here I- " Susan choked on a sob and Harry heard rustling as she moved beside him.

"I wouldn't be a very good Defence Professor if I didn't know how to repel a … Dark Creature, would I?" The warm voice answered as Harry reached out for the edge of the seat to pull himself up. At some point he had fallen to the floor and it took him a moment to lift himself back onto the cushioned bench. He reached his free hand up to his face and panicked briefly when he couldn't feel his glasses.

"Here you go mate." Terry whispered from across from him and he felt the tinted glasses slide onto his face, the arms settling comfortably on his ears and he smiled weakly in thanks to his friend.

"Right, I'm going to go and check on the other compartments and then speak with the driver. I will check back in on you shortly." There was a brief moment as the man paused and then Harry felt a hand touch his arm gently. "You really should eat that, it will make you feel better. I promise."

Then he was gone and Harry sat stiffly in his seat while the others whispered to themselves. His limbs still felt heavy but he lifted his hand to his mouth and bit down on the fragment he had been given. Sweet warmth melted across his tongue and down his throat, banishing the cold that clung to him as he swallowed and took another bite. Only after he had finished the chocolate did he tryto use his sight as he had when he first awoke, this time he managed to extend his awareness around him to fill the compartment and the headache that accompanied it was bearable, much better than the agonising pain that had flashed across his head when he first awoke.

"So that was a Dementor." He said aloud as he reached down and picked up his cane and wand from where they lay on the floor beside his feet. "I think I understand why Hagrid called them monsters now."

That drew a snort from a pale Neville was holding his own piece of half-eaten chocolate in shaking hands.

"Is everyone okay?" Harry asked as he leant back in his seat and wrapped both hands around his cane, it's warmth was helping almost as much as the chocolate had. Neville nodded but Harry could see the boy trembling, whether from the cold or the Dementor's other effects he wasn't sure. Luna had moved to sit beside Hannah and Susan and the three girls were huddled together but beyond a few shivers, they seemed to have come through relatively unscathed.

"We're fine mate, bit shaken up but other than that…" Terry let his words tail off as he looked out of the window briefly. The train must have started moving again while Harry had been unconscious because the gently rocking and rhythmic clickety-clack had resumed already.

"So no one else …?" Harry asked as he gestured to himself and the floor.

"Fainted? No I don't think so, course it didn't take so much interest in the rest of us either, Professor Lupin reckoned it was searching for Black but I dunno." Terry traced a symbol onto the window and then wiped it away and started again.

The rest of the journey passed in relative quiet as they all did their best to recover from their encounter with one of Azkaban's guards, only moving when the train finally came to a halt and they could disembark.

They joined the noticeably muted crowd of students as they made their way up the path to where the carriages waited to transport them up to the Castle, there were some whispers about the Dementors, and Harry learned that two had searched the train, but no one mentioned his collapse. At least, not until they were at the Castle and making their way up the stone steps to the entrance hall.

"Oi! Oi Potter!" Harry stopped and sighed as Draco Malfoy barged through the crowd to stand in front of him, accompanied by his ever-faithful bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle. "I heard you fainted Potter, is that true? Explains why you weren't put in Gryffindor like your parents at least, but even for a 'Claw that isn't very brave."

He didn't know if it was the mention of his parents or just the stress of the day catching up to him, but he had his wand drawn in the time it took Malfoy to finish his comment. He resisted the urge to jinx the blond and kept it pointed firmly at the floor, but the temptation was there.

"I suppose if your example of a lion is Longbottom then it's understandable, I'm surprised he didn't go like his par-" Malfoy fell silent even as his mouth moved, forming words that nobody could hear.

"Term officially starts once students have stepped foot on school grounds Mr Malfoy, so that will be ten points for your unkind words." A warm but rough voice cut across the steps as a tall man stepped through the crowd to stand between Harry and Malfoy. "Now I think you should head inside and join the rest of your housemates, yes?"

Malfoy scowled and stalked away silently, by choice or because of the Professor's spell, and the rest of the crowd continued through the enormous doors and into the castle.

"Thank you, Professor Lupin." Neville muttered from behind Harry as the man nodded and gestured for them to head inside.

It was Harry's first chance to actually see him since his Fulgomancy had returned to him and he was surprised by the man's magic and appearance. He had warm brown magic with streaks of silver carved into it, like scars that had healed wrong. He was tall and thin, but he had thin scars that left puckered white lines across his face and neck. He seemed nice enough and according to Terry he had driven off the Dementor, so he clearly knew his stuff. But Harry had two years of bad experiences with Defence teachers so the suspicion he felt was ingrained, he resolved to withhold judgement until their first lesson with the man.

"Where do you think you are going, Mr Potter?" Madam Pomfrey demanded as she intercepted him a few steps from the doors to the Great Hall.

"Oh hello Madam Pomfrey, I was just heading in for the Welcome Feast?" Harry tried to sound nonchalant as he made a small step towards the open doors but the nurse moved smoothly to step in his way.

"Oh no you don't, Professor Lupin informed me of what happened on the train. You'll be coming with me for a check-up before you go anywhere." Harry gave a defeated nod and followed the Matron away from his friends and the warm welcome of the Great Hall. "I'll catch up with you at the feast."

"I'll save you a seat mate." Terry called back as he and Neville were swept along by the crowd of students eager to reach their seats.

Thankfully Madam Pomfrey didn't take Harry all the way to the Hospital Wing, instead she led him to a small disused classroom that had been turned into a storeroom at some point. It was filled with chairs and desks with dusty sheets thrown over the tops, but it was quiet and out of the way which was good enough.

"I'm sorry to pull you away from the feast Mr Potter, but Dementors are awful creatures and their effects can linger. This won't take long, just stand still for me please." The nurse waved her wand through a series of complicated movements and Harry stood as still as he could as the spell surrounded him and pressed against him. It was like a gentle mist had formed around his body, but in places the mist would flash or glow or shiver and these reactions seemed to mean something to the matron who hummed thoughtfully. "Any chest pains? Lingering chills? Numbness in your fingers?"

"No not really, I mean I was stiff and cold at first, but the chocolate Professor Lupin gave us helped a lot." Harry answered as the spell faded from around him and he let out a small sigh of relief.

"Hm yes well he would know how to remedy the after-effects I suppose. Very well, I will let you go but if you experience any headaches or pains then come straight to the Hospital Wing." Harry nodded eagerly and the nurse released him to head to the feast.

He slipped through the great doors just as the last first year sat down at Hufflepuff and was pleased to see the tables fill with food moments later. He drew a few glances as he paced down the middle of the hall, the distinctive sound of his cane on the stone floor was enough to alert most to his identity. As third years, Terry had taken a seat halfway down the table and Harry was pleasantly surprised to find Luna was sat next to him. The two slid apart as Harry stepped up to the bench and he sat down between them as his stomach let out a disturbingly loud grumble.

"Good timing mate, Luna helped me save you a seat." Terry greeted as he piled sausages and mashed potato onto his plate and then reached eagerly for the gravy boat.

"Thanks mate, thank you Luna." Harry smiled at the blonde girl on his left as he thanked her and reached for the roast chicken.

"That's alright Harry Potter, did Madam Pomfrey find any Wrackspurts when she checked you?" Luna asked as she spooned peas onto her full plate. Somehow she had managed to create a somewhat lopsided pyramid out of mashed potato and was now decorating it with other vegetables.

"Ah no, no I don't think so. I'll have to ask her to check next time I see her." Luna nodded wisely at his response and placed a single pea at the zenith of her edible pyramid, it actually looked quite impressive to Harry. Then she dug a chunk out of the side with her fork and it collapsed as she set about eating the fallen marvel.

Once the last of the food disappeared and Harry was feeling remarkably full, the Headmaster stood, his usually jovial tone was much sterner when he spoke though he still smiled broadly at the assembled Hall.

"Welcome back to another year. I am sure you are all keen to go to bed so I will do my best to keep this brief. We have a new member of staff joining us for this year, Professor Lupin will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor. He has much experience with the subject so you would do well to learn from him all you can while he is here." Professor Lupin stood from his seat between Professor Flitwick and Hagrid and nodded politely at the introduction. "We also have a new Care of Magical Creatures instructor, Professor Kettleburn has elected to retire and recommended his successor be our own Rubeus Hagrid." This time the introduction was met with some cheers from small groups scattered through the Hall, Harry and Terry were among them, as were some older students who must have known the man from his time assisting Kettleburn.

"Alas now for the less joyous news. The Ministry has decided that the castle is at risk and so Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban. Until such a time as Sirius Black is captured the Dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. They are not permitted on the grounds but a word of caution, Dementors are vicious, merciless creatures. They do not distinguish between the one they hunt for and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn all of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in their nature to hesitate or be forgiving."

The hall fell silent at the Headmaster's grim words and the march up to the common rooms was a dour one. The Dementors presence on the train had been a horrible experience for everyone, even those who had only briefly encountered them. To hear that they would be lingering around the edges of the school grounds for the foreseeable future was not welcome news.

END